Strategic Communication, MA

Purpose

The purposes of the Department of Communication and Media Studies are:

1. To prepare students to communicate and create content for multimedia platforms.
2. To enhance students’ abilities to perform critical thinking, data gathering, and academic research.
3. To train students in the use of digital communication tools, and systems.
4. To teach students about the ethical and legal underpinning of the communication profession.
5. To enable students to demonstrate job preparedness and provide specific background training for professional communicators and candidates for doctoral study.

Program Objectives

The Master of Arts in Strategic Communication will focus on teaching media planning skills combined with advanced digital media content creation and a solid grounding in the strategic use of communication data analytics.

Upon completion of the degree, students will be able to:

1. Plan and create multimedia content to be used in strategic communication campaigns.
2. Use data collection and analysis to develop quantitative measurements and evaluations of strategic communication plans.
3. Manage digital communication tools, systems and digital media platforms in the strategic communication mix.
4. Apply strategic models and frameworks to conduct situational analyses for strategic communication plans.
5. Develop, present and discuss a comprehensive strategic communication plan for a client.

Admission Requirements

To be considered for admission to the Master’s in Strategic Communication, an applicant must meet the following criteria:

1. Meet all University admission requirements.
2. Have a baccalaureate degree from an accredited university. It is not essential that the undergraduate degree is in communication.
3. Students with an undergraduate GPA of less than 3.0 may be admitted provisionally to the program at the discretion of the graduate coordinator. Provisional status students must maintain a 3.0 GPA in the first 9 hours of coursework or may be dismissed from the program.
4. Submit a personal statement of 1-2 pages that explains the motivation for pursuing a graduate degree in strategic communications at Southeastern.
5. Applicants are reviewed in a comprehensive manner and admission to the program is selective and limited in order to guarantee progression through the program. The personal statement is given serious consideration in addition to grades and (if submitted) GRE scores.

Course Loads

Full-time students requesting to take more than 12 hours in a semester must receive approval from the Graduate Coordinator. In all cases, students register for COMM 6980  in the last semester of programming.